Amazon's Prime Day arrives on June 21, but if you've been hoping to see Prime Day deals on graphics cards, you're probably out of luck. That's because month-long chip shortages show no sign of abating, and that means retailers around the world haven't had a lot of stock for new graphics cards, like the recently released Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti. Add to that the growth in cryptocurrency mining, which is dependent on graphics cards, and you have a perfect storm where buying a new GPU is a bit of a nightmare, to say the least. The best graphics card deals right now
Should we lose hope?
Does that mean there's no way to get a new GPU on Prime Day? Not necessarily. While the chances of modern GPUs being in stock or getting Prime Day deals are slim, your best bet may be to buy a pre-built gaming PC. These will come with the coveted GPUs already installed. Now, that might seem like overkill if you just want to upgrade your graphics card, but there are a few factors to consider that make it not seem so bad. For starters, we've seen gaming PCs get decent Prime Day deals in the past, and we may see some this year as well. If you're not from Amazon, Best Buy, Scan and Overclockers UK often have Prime Day deals and have great pre-built PCs. Dell, Asus, Razer, and many others have also slashed prices around this time on their gaming PCs. Therefore, buying a gaming PC will not be as expensive as it would be at other times of the year. Today's Best Gaming PC Deals The shortage of GPUs and huge pent-up demand has also caused the few GPUs on sale to sell for prices well above what they normally would, especially on sites like eBay. So, an RTX 3060, which is expected to sell for $329 (about $240, AU$430), has been seen on some sites selling for as much as $1370 (about $1,000 / AU$1,800). Not only is that a huge markup that you should never consider, but it's not much cheaper than a full desktop PC. Of course, the desktop PC also comes with other components. Buying one could give you the chance to upgrade other parts of your existing PC, or just remove your existing PC instead of upgrading it. If you don't really need the other parts of the PC, just the GPU, you can even remove the GPU and then sell the rest of the new PC, which might help you recoup some of the costs. Like we said, it's not an ideal situation, but these are strange times we live in, and it might be your best bet to get a new GPU on Prime Day.